The Courage to Look Closely

Yesterday was the first day of International Coaching Week, an annual global celebration of the coaching profession that is held during the first full week of February by the International Coach Federation.

As I reflect, I would say that coaching has had a seismic impact on my clients this year. Looking up from what is right in front of them and out to the horizon, they have made tough career transitions, improved business relationships, met strategic objectives or achieved work-life balance (finally). Some were feeling stuck, overloaded, overwhelmed and ready for a change of pace. Others were energized and poised to reach new heights or cross challenging finish lines.

Each charted a course to a different future than the one they were headed toward before they stopped to get their bearings. Hat’s off to each and every one of them! It’s not always easy to pick up the binoculars and stare down what you see.

I am honoured to be a part of a truly amazing profession, one that allows me the priviledge of standing shoulder to shoulder with the talented individuals that are my clients as they work out their knots or pave the way forward. They inspire me every day!

They deserve a standing ovation for having the courage, the stamina and the tenacity to get perspective and take action!

Talk back! Did you make some progress working with an Executive Coach this year? Are you a coach who is observing International Coaching Week in some special way? I’d love to hear about it! Post a comment.

 

Everything You Need To Know – And More

 I took some time off over the holidays and I disconnected from all things electronic. Actually, I cheated a few times. But I was (mostly) digital-information free for almost three weeks. That left me with some extra time on my hands.

I loved it. I hated it. Guess what I discovered that I already kinda knew? I love to read.

There is so much fabulous, fascinating stuff in print in the world that there is no excuse for not knowing how to do just about anything. Well, there is that little matter of ‘not enough time’ – but once you have that tackled, the rest is easy.

Which brings me to the topic of leadership and an observation I have made.

Everything that you ever wanted to know about how to become a truly phenomenal leader is out there somewhere. It’s in books, magazines, newsletters, blogs, shared at workshops and conferences, discussed on social networking sites. Heck, it’s even in-your-face in the day-to-day examples set by good and bad leaders the world over. Don’t believe me? Pick up a newspaper.

So, you want to be a better leader? Read something. And then, read something else. Then implement something you’ve learned and read some more. No time to sit and read? Download something and listen later.

Why not start with a couple of discoveries I made this week?

Steve Farber is doing some very cool work that demonstrates the critical importance  of  helping others achieve their full potential. Check it out!

Fast Company  online leadership bloggers always provide food for thought. Why Going With Your Gut is Not Good Enough was a favourite  of mine this week.

So you want to be a better leader? Go read something!

Already reading something great? Post a comment, I’d love to know what you think.

 

Holidays Approaching Like a Freight Train?

I had a coaching conversation recently with an extraordinarily competent and typically under control VP. She said that she felt like she was racing to the finish line. End of the year, end of the decade, holidays heading toward her like a freight train. Reports to finish, strategy meetings to attend, performance reviews to complete, gifts to buy, meals to plan, family events to negotiate. The list was dizzying. “At least…” she began, wild-eyed “At least I can log in from home while I’m off.” Really? Really.

She’s not unique. It’s the thing to do these days. Connect more. Yet, oddly, there has never been a time in my career that I have talked to more people who feel strangely disconnected from their work, from their lives and from their leaders.  How can people feel so disconnected when they are more connected than at any other time in history? It’s a conundrum. A giant brain-teaser. Solving it starts with a deceptively simple first step.  

Just notice.

The most spectacular bright red cardinal was hidden in the branches of a shrub outside my window the other day. It blended in. I almost missed it. As you head full tilt into the New Year, take the time to observe, to pay attention, to absorb the meaning in the moments. What is your life telling you? Just notice.

 What do you think? Can you relate? Post a comment and start a conversation…

 // //

Finding a Place to Start

I cleaned the garage this weekend. With great enthusiasm I began the job by marching everything out into the driveway to be inspected in the blinding light of day. Then, I swept out the refreshingly empty garage and went back to the driveway to ponder my stuff. The first part was easy, sorting the trash from the good stuff. It was the not-so-sure pile, the keep-it-but-fix-it pile and the maybe-someday-I’ll-use-it pile that caused me the most distress. There was a point when I wanted to give up; to just walk away and call it a day.  But, I was too far in to quit and not far enough in to consider the job complete.

That’s when I saw it. The giant ball of holiday lights that I’d pulled off the shrubs in the spring, promising myself I’d tackle the tangle another time. I didn’t. It struck me then that so much of our lives is driven by the intention to sort things out later. Promises we make to ourselves and to others. Some we keep, some we don’t. Many, we get to only when we have to and others we avoid until it’s too late. Sometimes the situation is so knotted it seems far easier to start fresh. Out with the old and in with the new!

Robert Hargrove, in his book Masterful Coaching, talks about how challenging these knots can be, especially for leaders. “A good metaphor for a day in the life of an executive is a big ball of twine – a tangle of problems, dilemmas, puzzles, and emotional reactions.”, says Hargrove. “The coaching session is an opportunity to unravel it, and all people need is a place to start”.

A ‘place to start’. That was it. Begin at the beginning. Keep moving forward from intention to action one small step at a time. One foot resolutely in front of the other, I put the garage back together. It was a shadow of its former self.

I confess, I’ve left the tangle of lights for another day, a gentle reminder of the next ‘place to start’.

Have you ever found yourself in a leadership tangle? How did you unravel it? Reply to this post, I’d like to hear about it!

  

The Leadership Parade

 I’m not crazy about crowds. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, lost in their own little worlds, all headed in different directions. Heads down, earphones firmly planted, texting, talking, checking email on their mobile devices. Together but separate. Here, but not here.

I love parades. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, completely focused on what is going on around them, all headed in the same direction. Heads up, completely engaged, facing forward. Together. Here.

A spectacular phenomenon is occurring on our planet. Individuals now have the capability and the capacity to amass huge groups of people and communicate with thousands at precisely the same time. With some techno-savvy and a bit of focused effort, you and I can cultivate a following.

But, can we can rally the troops, draw people together, get them talking to each other?  We can create crowds, but can we turn them into parades? That, my friends, takes leadership.

Seth Godin, in his book Tribes, talks about the enormous opportunity for emerging leaders in our organizations and in our world today. People who can “create change they believe in” by building strong working relationships with their peers, their direct reports, their community. People who believe in the power of people. People who care.

So leaders, you may have teams, but do you have tribes? You may have meetings, but do you have conversations? You may have contact, but do you have connection?

According to Godin, “The essential lesson is that every day it gets easier to tighten the relationship you have with the people who choose to follow you.”  In short, you have to want to turn a crowd into a parade. Do you?

 Talk to me! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post. Post a comment. I’ll talk back. Promise.

   

Creating Space to Imagine

Fireworks at Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida

This was my summer for vacations. I took a walk on the wild side and booked two, each intended to give my brain a break.

The first was a ten day stay-cation spent totally disconnected from the cyber-world and schedules of any kind. No electronic calendars, email, internet, computer, text messaging or cell phones anywhere, anytime. The second was a week at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. Both gave me the time and space to relax, rejuvinate and experience a complete change of pace.

A funny thing happens when you take your brain off auto-pilot. It actually becomes capable of original thought again and it’s exhilarating! I actually had time to wander and meander. What a luxury. Slowly but surely new concepts, perspectives and possibilities began to pop up. I pondered. I imagined.

The great Mr. Walt Disney was a master of entertaining the possible and doing the impossible by creating space for ideas to blossom and thrive. He assembled teams of talented men and women he called Imagineers and gave them the freedom to dream, to create, to do. Using a brilliant combination of imagination and engineering they were tasked with dreaming big and building the dreams as well.

It’s a business model that continues today and one that leaders can learn from. More than ever before our organizations, our teams, our world has a great deal to gain from the efforts of those who can imagine a brighter future and then get to work building it.

The first step is deceptively simple. We need to create the space to imagine.

Talk to me! Does this post resonate with you in some way? I would love to hear your thoughts. Just post a comment below. I’ll be sure to reply. It all starts with a conversation…

 

On Leadership and Hummingbirds

At my kitchen window

I was standing in my kitchen too early one morning a few weeks ago, numbly waiting for the coffee to brew when something magical happened. I watched a hummingbird take a breath. Not her first and clearly not her last, but a pivotal hummingbird moment none the less. After racing from blossom to blossom, to the feeder and back again at roughly the speed of light she perched on a branch and just stopped. For a beautiful, peaceful five minute stretch that seemed much longer, I watched this spectacular creature just be still.

It occurred to me, as it usually does at times like these, that there is something to be learned from the way things work in nature. I discovered that hummingbirds have a couple of things in common with leaders.

Speed  An average hummingbird can move at an incredible speed, flapping its wings between 80 and 200 beats per second and taking 300 to 500 breaths per minute. Amoung the most common challenges faced by the leaders that I work with today is the speed that they need to move to keep up with the pace of the work. It’s nothing short of break-neck.

Cross Pollination  Playing a critical role in plant propagation, a hummingbird can pollinate 2000 blossoms each day and cover miles of ground in the process. Managers, Directors, VP’s and other Senior Leaders deal instead in the propagation of ideas, concepts, products and positive business relationships with a reach that spans the globe.

So, how does this tiny bird weighing no more than 10 grams keep on going? Simple. It stops sometimes. It enters a state called ‘torpor’, a period of deep rest in which it conserves about 60 per cent of its energy. It takes a break to just be still.

How many of us, especially leaders, are always on, always connected, always moving? How often do we take 5 minutes, or 5 hours, or 5 days to just stop, to regroup, to recharge? I would hazard a guess that despite our best intentions, most of us do this rarely.

Perhaps, we can all learn a lesson from the hummingbird. Every once in a while we need to stop, be still, and take a breath.

Does this post resonate with you in some way? I would love to hear your thoughts. Just post a comment below by clicking Leave Comment. It all starts with a conversation…

   

Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Mind

In the opening of a conference keynote that I do called Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Mind, I tell a true story of the time I watched a woman having a full blown adult temper tantrum in a line up at Starbucks. Audiences love that story. They love it because they can relate. They know just how it feels when someone in close proximity makes a complete fool of themselves by over-reacting to the situation at hand. They also know just how it feels to be the fool who is over-reacting.

I’ve done it myself. Despite my best intentions, I have let my emotions get the best of me at the bank or the airport or the grocery store and even at the office over the years. I favor a quieter form of loss of control than the woman at Starbucks though. My hit list includes loud sighs, forceful keyboard tapping and even the occassional eyeball roll. I am more of a silent sufferer, preferring to work out my angst with a pound of gummy bears  or a really good bar of chocolate.

Our emotions play an important role in our survival. Without emotions we might not ever get clear on what is important to us, or stand up to injustice, or make big changes in our work and our lives. At the most fundamental level, our emotions help us to zig when we were just about to zag. But when we get overwhelmed or frustrated, tired or hungry, burdened by the demands of our lives, our emotions actually hijack us. They hold us hostage and we flip out about an email or worse, fire off a hostile response. It’s not pretty.

Daniel Goleman , in his book  Primal Leadership, gets right down to the root of the impact of negative emotions in the workplace. “Even if they get everything else just right, if  leaders fail in this primal task of driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do will work as well as it could or should” says Goleman. Emotions matter, but so does emotional control.

So, what is a frazzled individual to do? Well one thing is for sure, it’s not easy to stop a runaway train. Real emotional intelligence involves some soul searching and some hard work. The first step is to recognize that your emotions are a signal that something needs to change. If you’re snapping in line at Starbuck’s, that something just may be you.

    

Management and Leadership – Managing Your Virtual Team

The main problem with online collaboration is that your staff, by definition, must have a reliable access to the Internet. Aka “The Infinite Distraction Engine.” Administering employees online can be like herding cats, except the cats are all in different countries, and invisible. The cats also have access to YouTube. How can you remotely manage them?

read more

  

Get Perspective And Take Action

Get Perspective And Take Action

You’re busy, extremely busy, constantly connected and over-commited. You’ve got a big sticky business problem to solve (or lots of them). Get Perspective and Take Action!